Housing is the one of the basic needs for every human being, with Food, Clothing and Education being the other three. Housing is an important component and a measure of socio–economic status of the people. It is regarded as a critical sector in terms of policy initiatives and interventions. The relevance of housing as a social need has been long recognized, and this has influenced the innovations and inventions made by mankind, since the Stone Ages.

Housing being the one of the essential needs of mankind, the demand for shelter grows in line with the increase in population and the standard of living, hence the need of financing the purchasing of a House came up. The importance of the housing sector can be judged by the fact that we consider house as the best investment and want to invest our hard earned money or saving in a house. The need for Finance to purchase a house brought out specialized Housing Finance Institutions. The Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) as they are called today, have stepped up their lending over the years contributing to the growth of the housing sector. Their strength lies in their skills in lending exclusively for housing sector. Such is the background of GIC Housing Finance Ltd (GICHFL).

GIC Housing Finance Limited, was incorporated as 'GIC Grih Vitta Limited' on 12th December 1989. The name was changed to its present name vide a fresh Certificate of Incorporation issued on 16th November 1993. The Company was formed with the objective of entering in the field of direct lending to individuals and other corporates to accelerate the housing activities in India. The primary business of GICHFL is granting housing loans to individuals and to persons/entities engaged in construction of houses/flats for residential purposes. The Company carried a vision for the future of Housing in India. And it is always believed at GICHFL that its success and growth depends on its principles which are ;

• To be a prominent Corporate Citizen in promoting housing activities through customer friendly finance schemes with in a service oriented atmosphere.
• To consolidate and grow in a competitive environment reflecting the ethical standard of a good corporate citizen.
• To create Wealth and Reward Share holders

The Company was promoted by General Insurance Corporation of India and its erstwhile subsidiaries namely, National Insurance Company Limited, The New India Assurance Company Limited, The Oriental Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company Limited together with UTI, ICICI, IFCI, HDFC and SBI, all of them contributing to the initial share capital.

GICHFL has presence in 27 locations (24 Business Centers & 3 Collection centers) across the country for business. It has got a strong marketing team, which is further assisted by Sales Associates(SAs). It has tie-ups with builders to provide finance to individual borrowers. It also has tie-ups with corporates for various housing finance needs.

Major Events in the Company's history

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Mr. Yogesh Lohiya - Chairman: Mr. Yogesh Lohiya is the Chairman cum Managing Director of General Insurance Corporation of India.

Mr. Yogesh Lohiya is a mechanical engineering graduate and an Associate of the Insurance Institute of India. He also holds a post-graduate diploma in management from the All India Management Association (AIMA).

Mr. Lohiya had a short stint in the manufacturing industry before joining the Insurance Industry as a direct recruit officer in The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. in 1977.

During his stay in Oriental spanning over three decades Mr. Lohiya handled various technical departments including Fire, Engineering, Reinsurance Treaty, Foreign Operation, Marine, Aviation, etc. He also provided his expertise to the company's offices in India and abroad on technical matters.

He has served as member on various professional committees. These include:

• Insurance & Pension Committee of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry
• Study Group on Insurance of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry
• Chairman of Management Committee of Catastrophe Pool (Developing the Pool in association with G.I.C. under the instruction of IRDA)
• Member of Terrorism Pool
• Member of Sub committee of Tariff Advisory Committee on Engineering & Petrochemical Insurances
  

He is also the Co-chairman of Insurance Committee of Indian Merchants Chamber, Mumbai. Mr. Lohiya is also a visiting faculty at several institutes of higher learning which include:-

• Power Management Institute of NTPC
• National Insurance Academy
• IIT Delhi & Kanpur
• Training Colleges of the public sector general insurance companies
  

A prolific writer, Mr. Lohiya has authored several books on various issues related to the Insurance sector. He has also presented papers on a variety of subjects ranging from Risk Management in Chemical Industry, Customer Service in Insurance Industry and Indian Public Sector - A Success Story in Seminars in India and abroad. Several of these have also been awarded.

Mr. Lohiya prepared a Report on Catastrophe Risk in India for the Ministry of Finance and an Engineering Insurance Manual for The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. The manual was later adopted by Tariff Advisory Committee.

Mr.M. Sivaraman - Managing Director : Shri. M. Sivaraman is BSc (Physics) Graduate from University of Madras. He is also a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Member of the Institute of the Company Secretaries of India and Fellow Member of Insurance institute of India.

He Joined United India Insurance Company Ltd. as 1st level executive in 1978 in Delhi and had worked in Delhi and Chennai in various capacities including Company Secretary and Executive Assistant to CMD in the rank of DGM at Chennai. Prior to deputation to GIC Housing Finance Ltd, Shri M.Sivaraman was Deputy General Manager, in charge of Kerala operations of United India Insurance Ltd..

Mr. M. Ramadoss: As Chairman-cum-Managing Director of New India Assurance Co. Ltd., he has been an Additional Director of the Company w.e.f 10th March, 2005. Mr. Ramadoss is a First Class Commerce Graduate from Madras University and a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is also a Fellow of Insurance Institute of India and an Associate of Chartered Insurance Institute of U. K. He joined the Insurance Industry in 1976 as direct recruit Class I Officer in New India Assurance Company Limited and has worked in various positions. In 2001, he was promoted as General Manager and posted to London branch for 3 years. He returned to India and joined Head Office in mid November 2004. He has a unique experience of having worked in the Insurance Industry in different parts of the country. Besides working in the Insurance Industry, he is also a visiting faculty in National Insurance Academy, Pune. He regularly takes classes in Company Training Colleges. He has also written articles in magazines and he is a member of a Working Group constituted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to finalize Accounting Guidelines for General Insurance Companies.

Mr. G. Srinivasan: Chairman cum Managing Director, United India Insurance Company Ltd.
Shri. G. Srinivasan has assumed charge of United India Insurance Company Ltd., Chennai as its Chairman cum Managing director w.e.f. October 18, 2007.

Prior to his appointment he served as Managing director of The New India Assurance Company (TNT) Ltd., Trinidad and Tobago and as General Manger for The New India Assurance Company Ltd.

Shri. G. Srinivasan is a fellow of the Insurance Institute of India and also an ICWA graduate.

Mr. N.S.R. Chandraprasad: has taken over as Chairman cum Managing Director of National Insurance Company, succeeding Shri. V. Ramasaamy who laid down office on 31st May 2009. Shri. Chandraprasad joined the General Insurance industry in 1978 as an Asst. Admn. Officer of GIC of India. In 1979, he joined New India Assurance Company Ltd. In career spanning more than 30 years he has held a number of key positions in Marketing, Operations, Reinsurance, Personnel and Technical both in India and overseas. He was Managing Director of Prestige Assurance plc Lagos, a subsidiary of New India, from June 2002 to March 2006. Before joining National Insurance as CMD, Shri. Chandraprasad served as Director and General Manager of New India Assurance Company Ltd.

Mr. M. K. Tandon: Took over as Director of the Company w.e.f. 2nd September 1999. He is M. Com, LLB, Associate Part I (Insurance Institute of India). He started his career in insurance industry in 1964. He has immense knowledge and experience in insurance industry especially human resources for the past four decades. He was the Managing Director of General Insurance Corporation of India during the period between the 04th March 1999 to 04th March 2001. He has also discharged his services as the Chairman-Cum-Managing Director of National Insurance Co. Ltd. between 05th March 2001 to 30th September 2001.

Mr. Javed Yunus: Mr. Javed Yunus is currently Executive Director with IFCI Ltd. and looks after Human Resources and Corporate Service Group, Finance & Accounts, Audit, Risk Management and Compliance Functions. He was earlier with the ONGC for 14 years and left the organization as Joint Director to join IFCI as General Manager. He began his career with Rockfeller Foundation where he was a Research Fellow for a period of 2 years.

His qualifications include B.Sc. (Hons.), DPR, M.A. (Industrial Relation) & M. Phil. from Jawahar Lal Nehru University and MBA from FMS, Delhi University. He has received training from Jefkins Institute, London. CFP TOTAL, Paris and European Management Centre, Brussels.

Mr. Yunus is currently the Chairman of MPCON Ltd., HIMCON Ltd. and HARDICON Ltd. He is also on the Board of Directors of Uflex Ltd., Heidelberg Cement (India) Ltd. and Tourism Finance Corporation of India Ltd.

Mr. Manu Chadha: has been a Director of the Company since the 29th April 2002. His academic qualifications include B.Com (Hons), FCA, LLB and is a practicing Chartered Accountant since 1979 and is a Senior Partner with M/s. T R Chadha & Co, Chartered Accountants. He is also on the Board of Dena Bank, SBI Mutual Fund and other body corporate. The Government of India has nominated him on the Investor Education and Protection Fund.

Mr.M.Ramprasad: M. Ramaprasad is a Post graduate in Statistics from the University of Madras and an Associate of Insurance Institute. He was selected in 1978 as a direct recruit officer of the then General Insurance Corporation of India and was assigned to National Insurance Co. Limited in 1979 after a one-year training programme.

M.Ramaprasad worked in several Branch and Divisional Offices of the Company from 1979 to 1998 at Hyderabad and Chennai. During this period he also served as in-charge of various Divisional Offices in these cities.

From 1998 till 2007, he was posted at the Head Office of the Company and looked after the technical departments of Fire, Engineering, Miscellaneous Insurance and Reinsurance Underwriting. During this period, he also served as a member of Fire and Engineering Technical (Sub) Committees of Tariff Advisory Committee.

On promotion to the cadre of General Manager in April-2007, he was posted to GIC of India as GM. He looks after the portfolios of Reinsurance, Personal, IT, Office Services and Audit. Before joining the insurance industry, Mr. Ramaprasad worked for Bank of India for 3 years.

Dr. R. K. Kaul: Dr. R. K. Kaul has assumed charge as Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Delhi, w.e.f. 30th December, 2009 from Shri. M. Ramadoss, who has joined The New India Assurance Company Limited, Mumbai as Chairman cum Managing Director. Dr. R. K. Kaul was earlier posted as General Manager with National Insurance Company Limited, Kolkata.

R. K. Kaul has been awarded a Doctorate in Zoology in the year 1978 and is also an Associate member of The Insurance Institute of India.

Dr. R. K. Kaul commenced his career as an Officer with the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) in the year 1977, and has handled various line and staff responsibilities in various offices of National Insurance Company in Gujarat, Delhi and Kolkata besides a stint with Kenindia Assurance Company Limited, Nairobi from 1993 to 1999.

MANAGEMENT
Mr. M. Sivaraman, CA,CS - Managing Director
Mr. P.N. Balasubramanian - Sr. Vice President
Mr. Rajib De, CA - Sr. Vice President
Mr. S. Shridharan, CS, CA, ICWAI - Vice President & Company Secretary
Mr. Mahesh Ghagre, CA - Vice President
Mr. S. Mahishi, BE(CIVIL) - Asst. Vice President
Mr. R. Jayachandran, B.Sc. - Asst. Vice President
Mr. H.D. Thakkar - Asst. Vice President
Mr. S. Vijayramesh - Asst. Vice President